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a very fine fellow. Buckner was here when I reported, and was going to take a position in our army."

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We are only waiting for good travelling and the grand advance; we will have bloody work, for we are bound for Richmond, and by the aid of God we will be there before long. Frank is here; I was with him all day on the 22d. He was taken in Texas, and refused to give the parole that many did, and was consequently detained a prisoner since March. He has just been exchanged; he was well treated (being a regular). He says the troops are half clothed, half fed, and not paid at all. Richmond and New Orleans are under martial law, and there is no business any where. Everything is very high. General McClellan told him that his course was very praiseworthy. Frank don't know what to do; he will remain about here a week and make up his mind. Our uniform is to be changed, and in my next letter I will describe it to you."

"Fort Albany, Feb. 26, 1862. I will write you just a word or two, as perhaps I may never have another opportunity. We have just received marching orders and don't know at what moment we go. The orders are that we go with only four wagons and two days' rations. The officers are to take nothing but a carpet bag. I shall take nothing but my blankets, rubber and woolen. If I escape uninjured I shall then send for the rest

NOTE: First Lieutenant Royal T. Frank graduated from the Military Academy in the class of 1858. He was from Maine. He is now Colonel First United States Artillery, and commandant of the Artillery School at Fort Monroe, Va.

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but be sure, boys,' he said, and have plenty of powder and shot. He has got fight in him. I have got fifty pounds and I shall try and shoot. Give love to Mother, and tell her not to worry." "I have not heard from Gene."

Our brother of the regulars now writes: "Feb. 27, 1862. I write in great haste. We are under orders to hold ourselves in readiness at a moment's notice to have two days' rations cooked, and to have all company property stored. I am all picked up and ready to start anywhere at any time. If anything happens to me send to John Golden, Massachusetts avenue, between First and Seventh streets for my effects, and you will receive them instanter. Good-by to all." "February 28. I have been in my room since yesterday evening with my knapsack packed and all ready to move. I believe that Banks attempted to take Williams Port, and got defeated, and this is the cause of all the getting ready, etc. Yesterday morning the Fourth United States Cavalry went off somewhere, and returned this morning covered with mud. I did not see any of them, consequently do not know where they went. Captain Willard has been promoted to be Major in

NOTE: Major George L. Willard was appointed a brevet second lieutenant, Eighth United States Infantry, June 28, 1848; Major Nineteenth United States Infantry, Feb. 19, 1862. He was captured at Harpers Ferry, Va., September, 1862, and was killed at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, while in command of the Third brigade, Third division, Second corps."

the Nineteenth Infantry. He just left my room, after telling me privately some good news. The provost marshal-general of the Grand Army, General Andrew Porter, has applied for Major Willard to command a battalion which is to move with him. Major asked me how I would like to be adjutant. He says I am not sure of commanding a company, and now that Frank is here, he may be ordered to take command at any moment. If I act as adjutant I will have a horse to ride, which is a very fine thing to have in the field, a la Sparrowgrass.' Major wishes to have me very much. I rather think I shall like it. It is very cold and windy here, and I hope if we move, we will wait until it is a little pleasant. I am busy with my muster and pay-rolls, and have to see that my monthly return is made out properly."

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Our brother at Fort Albany writes, March 5th. "We still continue here,

but do not know at what moment the

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long roll' will summon us to march on the enemy. It has been understood by us till recently that we were to be stationed here permanently, but such is not the fact; we advance with the "Grand Army." By accident I met with a late H. paper, and in it I saw a 'Call' for a meeting to drum up recruits for the "Web-footed Fourteenth," giving these individuals to understand that this regiment would see none of Jeff's friends. It is too bad for them to be so deceived. I suppose Major Wright has been to H.to recruit. He thought when he left that we should not advance, but we have received different orders since he left, and I am glad of it."

Our brother of the provost guard writes, March 10, 1862. "We move this morning at twelve noon. We are on the provost marshal-general's guard. The entire army moves, good-by. God bless you all!"

AN INCIDENT OF THE CENTRAL GUARD-HOUSE.

By General J. P. Cilley.

The mention in the narrative of at the Central guard-house, and rethe "Four Brothers in Blue," of this military adjunct to the military rule of the city of Washington during the War of the Rebellion, will recall to many an old soldier something of personal experience. April 7, 1863, while disabled by the wound in the right arm and shoulder, I was detailed as judge advocate on the staff of General Martindale, military governor of Washington, and was assigned to duty as examining officer

mained on this duty till August 1, 1863. The services of this detail were unique, and the experiences varied; most of the ordinary duties of a police judge, with those of the chief of police, were united in one person. Before relating one of these incidents, a description of the guardhouse may be appropriate, and the following is taken from the history of the Fourteenth New Hampshire regiment :

"The Central guard-house had been used as the common city jail before the war. It was not a very strong prison, nor was it well constructed as to convenience or sanitary advantages. It was small, and looked more like the engine-house of some New England fire company than a jail. It was built of brick, with stone floors, and consisted of a main building some forty feet square and two stories high, with an L extending forty or fifty feet to the rear from the centre of the building. This L was two stories high, and was divided into cells on each floor, located on each side of an alley down the centre. In the main building, on the first floor, were rooms used as offices for reception, and trial or examination of prisoners, propertyroom, and guard-rooms. The second floor consisted of one large room, No. 1, into which most of the prisoners were sent at first, especially if citizens. There were usually from fifty to one hundred prisoners in this room. All kinds and grades of people, from the soldier found drunk on the streets, to men arrested for murder, and even what could now be termed Suspects,' found their way to the Central guard-house.

"Captain J. S. Cooper, of the Tenth New Jersey, was in charge of the Central guard-house, having under him two officers, taking twenty-four hour tours, alternately, from noon to noon; and an ample guard, with sergeants and other subalterns.

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by order of General Martindale, commander military district of Washington, and detailed for duty at Central guard-house. Lieutenant Ira Berry, Jr., afterwards relieved Lieutenant Fellows; and Lieutenant Solomon of the One Hundred and Seventyeighth New York relieved Lieutenant Wright the last of June. Lieutenant Berry relieved Captain Cooper, and was placed in charge of the prison. Other officers of the Fourteenth, among them Lieutenant George F. Blanchard, were subsequently on duty at the Central guardhouse. During this summer of 1863, the property clerk was Sergeant F. C. Horner of the Seventy-sixth New York, and the clerks were R. N. Washburn of the Thirty-ninth Massachusetts, J. P. Cherry of the Seventy-sixth New York, and J. B. Davenport of the Twentieth Massachusetts."

There were from twenty to forty cases of arrest and detention to be examined into daily. The cases were duly entered in a docket, and under the name of each culprit was the cause of his arrest, and a few notes giving some additional facts. I will give one incident to show the range of investigation demanded.

One morning, as I entered the building, I noticed in one corner a huge pile of canteens, jugs, and bottles. I expressed some surprise at this display, and asked the prison clerk what was up. He smiled, and suggested that a reference to the docket would further perplex me. I opened the docket, and among the first entries read the names of some three women, charged with smug

gling liquor across Long Bridge, that the liquor was found in their possession, and a note in form of an order from General Martindale stating that one of the women had a child in the carriage when arrested, and directing me to find out if it was her baby or a borrowed one. The suggestion of such an endeavor was appalling to at young unmarried officer. While I perceived Captain Cooper laughing internally, personally, laughing was the most remote achievement from my mind. The order seemed absurd, and its execution impossible, but a distinct order it was, and as such could not be avoided or ignored. I had no heart to take up any other case, but held my breath as I meditated what I could do to solve or to avoid the positive command. At last it came slowly through my perplexed brain that every mother must remember the date of birth of her child, the place where born, the time it was weaned, and when its first tooth was cut. I summoned the supposed mother before me. Her voice and her whole appearance proclaimed her nationality to be Irish. It occurred to me, as I saw these marked racial traits, to produce in her mind the impression that I believed her to be of German origin, and that she was lying when she should claim Irish birth. So I commenced harshly, for actually I was thoroughly vexed with the requirements of the

order. "Where were you born?" She replied, "In Donnybrook, near Dublin." I replied quickly," Impossible, you are Dutch built and Dutch voiced; you must mean near Hamburg." She held to Dublin, and I hurled a volley of questions at her, asking her the date, and a lot of facts about her early life and marriage, and introduced tenderly, as tending to sustain my impression of nationality, the date of birth of the child, where born, when weaned, teeth cut, etc. I went over the ground three times with varied sequence of question; all her dates and places agreed except those concerning the child, whose date of birth, place of birth, when weaned, etc., did not agree, and then looking her square in the face, I said, “ You are lying concerning that child. It is not your own child. You have given three dates of its birth, and two places where born, and have weaned it at different times." She started, and trembled, and said nothing for a minute, when her inborn Irish wit, with an Irish bull in it, and a womanly weapon of defense were brought into execution. "Boo, hoo, hoo! Boo, hoo, hoo!" and the tears actually ran down her cheeks as she continued her "Boo, hoo, hoo." I was preparing by involuntary association to accompany her tears, when she said, "If you had doubted who the father was, I would not have cared; but to doubt who the mother is! Boo, hoo, hoo!"

HISTORY OF THE ELEVENTH MAINE.

This history is another illustrious example of the good work of regimental associations. Its accurate and exhaustive account of the personal services of its members could not be secured without concurrent action. The mere matter of the post-office addresses of the survivors is worth the full cost of the book. The services of this regiment extended in time from October, 1861, to February 2, 1866, in space from Virginia to South Carolina and Florida, and in battles from Yorktown to Appomattox. Its interesting story and historic record form a volume of royal octavo size and fill 505 pages, of which 161 are devoted to the personal history of its members and the roster of its men.

A complete review of this history was in contemplation but its excellencies were found so numerous that its merits are best presented by giving a taste of its good qualities in a few extracts from its pages and a portrait of its one-armed hero, General Hill.

WITHDRAWAL TO THE JAMES.

The morning of June 30, 1862, exhausted men could be seen lying fast asleep everywhere-in the fields and the woods, on the safe side of White Oak Swamp, even in the dusty road. All Our army had crossed by White Oak Swamp bridge, except Heintzelman's command, which crossed farther to the north, by Brackett's Ford, destroying the bridge after crossing.

From daylight, as fast as the packed condition of the roads to the James would permit, all troops but those of us who were to form the rear guard of the day (the divisions of Smith and Richardson, two brigades of Sedgwick's division, and Nagle's brigade, all under the command of Franklin, to lie here and hold Jackson at bay), were moving slowly to positions towards the next selected. position at which to make a standMalvern Hill. That Jackson was on the other side of the bridge, we knew. The rattle of the skirmishers' rifles told us that, and just about noon he announced his presence by suddenly opening on us with thirty pieces of artillery. One moment there was nothing above us but a cloudless sky, the next the air was full of shrieking shell, bursting in white puffs of smoke, and showering down a storm of broken iron. Newcomb notes: "The scene was terribly sublime."

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So startling was the suddenness of the change it was not strange that, as the Second Corps chronicler puts it, there was a scene of dire confusion." And to add to it, the men in charge of a pontoon-train drawn up by the roadside, waiting for an opportunity to lumber away, unhitched their mules, mounted them, and fled for the James.

The confusion lasted but a few minutes, and in it the Eleventh had no share. We were lying in the edge of the woods that bordered the great cleared field in which the

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